Italian senator likens black minister to orangutan

Share this story

Share this story

FILE -- In this file photo taken on Feb. 4 2011, Senate vice president Roberto Calderoli reacts during a press conference in Rome. Calderoli, a leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, made denigrating remarks about Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge while he was speaking at a party rally Saturday in northern Italy, the populist movement's power base. Premier Enrico Letta has harshly criticized a top Italian senator who likened the country's first black Cabinet minister to an orangutan, the latest high-profile racist episode in a nation grappling with immigration. In a statement Sunday, Letta denounced Roberto Calderoli's words as "unacceptable" and "beyond every limit." (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)